Weekly Roundup #8

This week I have been:

Watching: sumo wrestling!! On Saturday we went to Osaka to see the sumo wrestling, it was so much fun. I had previously watched it on the telly but found it not very interesting. However watching it live, in the stadium, is a great experience.

Visiting: Osaka Castle. I can't believe I have never been before. It was great for the history nerd inside me. I wish we had had more time but we had to rush a bit to get to the sumo in time to see a special ceremony.

Photographing: more plum blossom. Outside Osaka castle they have a lovely plum grove which we wandered around. They are still not in full bloom but it was very beautiful. 

Studying: a lot. My final tests at the Japanese school I go to are this week. Plus I have to write a speech. In Japanese.

Listening: Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood.

Weekly Roundup #7

Versace exhibition

This week I have been:

Watching: The Bling Ring, a film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It's based on a true story about a bunch of kids in L.A who break into the houses of celebrities. Or, in the case of Paris Hilton's house, they find the key under the doormat! To be honest I was quite disappointed, there isn't much of a storyline and most of the film just shows them playing around with shoes and handbags. It was nice to see inside the amazing dressing rooms though!

Reading: Sushi and Beyond by food and travel writer Michael Booth. My dad gave this book to me this week, I haven't read much of it but am enjoying it so far.

Celebrating: Hina Matsuri. A Japanese festival just for girls!

Visiting: two exhibitions and another fashion show. One exhibition was textiles and the other was a small Versace exhibition. The fashion show (Kyoto MaGiC) was held at Kyoto Manga Museum and was a collaboration between Margaret magazine, Muratado school uniform company and Human Forum.

Listening: to Team by Lorde.

Weekly Roundup #6

This week I have been:

Visiting: two fashion shows. One held by D's Fashion College and another by ESMOD Japon. They were both really good, some of the designs were absolutely amazing. It made me realise that I definitely made the right decision by choosing to study Fashion Communication and not Fashion Design, there is no way I would be able to design and make clothes to this standard!

Reading: lots of magazine articles which my mum sent me, I just love getting post, don't you?

Photographing: the plum blossom. Today we went to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine which is famous for it's plum blossom. It is a bit early and not many of the trees were in bloom but it was still very beautiful.

Listening: to Demons by Imagine Dragons.

Weekly Roundup #5

This weekend I have been:

Wandering: around the aquarium! When I was younger going to an aquarium was one of my favourite things to do but I haven't been to one in ages so it was nice to go see all the fishes.

Photographing: some amazing outfits made by university students at a fashion show I went to during the week.

Watching: Cool Runnings. Because if you don't watch it when it's the Winter Olympics then when do you watch it.

Blogging: about this small fashion exhibition in Kyoto.

Visiting: Kobe. Where I went to two exhibitions, wandered around the designer shops and ate cake.

Listening: to Powerless by Rudimental feat. Becky Hill.

Weekly Roundup #4

MUGEN Fashion Works Exhibition

This week I have been:

Watching: the Winter Olympics. Come on Japan! We currently have 5 medals, including a gold medal in figure skating for the 19 year old Yuzuru Hanyu who broke a world record in the short programme.

Visiting: three exhibitions around Kyoto. One was a small fashion exhibition which I will write a post about later in the week. Another was an exhibition about the history of Japanese schools. Then we went to see the Asian premiere of South African artist William Kentridge's large scale video installation, 'The Refusal of Time.'  It was very unusual and although I found it very interesting I didn't really understand what it was about, something to do with time, relativity and black holes...

Making: yatsuhashi. There are various types of yatsuhashi, the type I made is called otabe. It is a traditional Japanese sweet consisting of a triangle of dough similar to mochi. Inside is usually red beans. It was fun making them and they tasted really good!

Blogging: about how Valentine`s Day is celebrated in Japan. Did you know that only women buy chocolates in Japan?

Listening: to Money on my Mind by Sam Smith.

 

Weekly Roundup #3

This week I have been:

Watching: American Hustle. Went to the cinema this afternoon, my first visit to a cinema since coming to Japan. Japanese cinemas are so much cleaner and spacious than english cinemas! Really enjoyed the film, great story, amazing bunch of actors and wonderful costumes!

Posing: for photos in a purikura photo booth! I have seen these photo booths all over Japan but have never tried one. Today I tried it with my friend for the first time, it was so silly but so much fun!

Throwing: beans around the house to scare away the devil. This was part of the Setsubun celebrations which I was going to blog abot this week but never got round to doing. 

Blogging: about nothing, oops...

Listening: to Selfies by Nina Nesbitt.

Weekly Roundup #2

Happy Chinese New Year! It`s the year of the horse.

This week I have been

Watching: this video on The Independent website about 48 hours in York. At school I had to write (in Japanese) about my recommendations of places to go in York so I used this for inspiration! 

Reading: the latest copy of Kyoto Visitor's Guide and planning which festivals I want to go to this month!

Buying: some new clothes in Bershka which is a shop owned by the Spanish group which owns Zara. The clothes are more casual than Zara and aimed at a younger target market. The prices were very similar except for the pieces in the sale which were ridiculously cheap, yey for me but not sure how great that is for the company!

Photographing: devil`s shoes. I will write more on this during the week but this evening I went to Yoshida Shrine to celebrate Setsubun. It was really fun and I got to see some interesting back stage things.

Listening: to lots of covers by Lily Ahlberg. Her voice is so lovely, below is her cover of Kids by MGMT.

Weekly Roundup #1

This week I have been:

Reading: A Girl Like You by Maureen Lindley. I received it for Christmas and have really enjoyed reading it. It`s a historical fiction about a girl, Satomi Baker, growing up in California. Her American father signs up when war is declared and is sent to the base at Pearl Harbour, he never returns. As you might have guessed from the girl`s first name, her mother is Japanese. The story is about Satomi, a girl proud to be American, struggling as she is sent to live with other Japanese people in an American labour camp.

Listening: to Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne.

Playing: Taiko drums! On Saturday we went to a Taiko drumming workshop with Taiko Lab. I really recommend it to people in Japan, they also have workshops in Tokyo and Osaka. It was so fun, plus great exercise!

Watching: Memoirs of a Geisha. I have actually never read the book or watched the film, but then I saw that it was on YouTube so decided to watch it. I enjoyed it but the ending didn't feel right in my opinion, am interested in knowing if the ending is the same in the book.

Buying: two calendars for myself! I had a space on my wall from where I took down last year`s calendar (which was 1920`s Vogue covers.) But I thought I would wait till the end of January to buy a new one because I am all in favour of a reduced price! There were so many good designs though that I bought two. One to hang on my wall, and one to put on my desk. The desk one you can see in the picture above, I really like the bird cage design and how there is space at the bottom for jewellery.

Hope you have all had a good week xxx

With every step we take, Kyoto to the bay...

Love this song although have to admit that the reason I chose it this Friday is because the video is filmed in Japan! Carp, fish markets, salary men, school girls, ramen...
Rather Be by Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne.

Budapest

I realise that the past few Fridays I haven`t posted songs. Anyway today's song is Budapest by George Ezra, enjoy.  

 

Don`t save me

This Friday`s song is Don`t Save Me by Haim.

We sleep until the sun goes down...

Today`s song is Mountain Sound by Of Monsters and Men.

Is this the place I`ve been dreaming of...

So, this week`s song is something to get you into the Christmas mood. Lily Allen`s beautiful cover of Somewhere only we know. It was made for this year`s really cute John Lewis advert.

Don`t tell me our youth is running out, it`s only just begun

Ok so I might have forgotten to upload a song last week, oops. Anyway today we went on a school trip to a beautiful temple called Tenryuji (more on that in another post.) On the way back an old Japanese man suddenly appeared next to me asking if I was from England and if I had been to the Olympics. He said that he went to the Olympics opening ceremony and the Paralympics. Then he bounded away like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. Remember you don`t have to be young to be youthful. So on that note this week`s song is Youth by Foxes.

When you say you won`t forget me, I can tell you that`s not true...

 

This Friday`s song is Changing of the Seasons by Two Door Cinema Club. I thought it was appropriate since it is now starting to feel like autumn here in Japan. It`s getting cooler (although still not coat weather,) the evenings are getting darker and the leaves are starting to fall (not here in Kyoto but further north which means that hopefully in a couple of weeks the trees here will start to change colour).

 

 



That Friday Feeling

Every Friday I come home from school and then listen to Radio 1. This is my Friday feeling, listening to good tunes to set me up for the weekend ahead. So I have decided that from now on I will post one of my favourite songs of the moment every Friday. This week it is Counting Stars by OneRepublic. Enjoy!